I'll Be Your Distraction
by Iamdramionetrash
Summary: Percy practices his favorite passtime: distraction Annabeth from her homework.
1. Chapter 1

"PERCY!" She screamed, standing in a pool of water at the door to her apartment in New Rome.

The Seaweed Brain came up from the raggedy couch he had been hiding behind with a dopey grin on his face, sea green eyes shining with tears of laughter.

Annabeth let out a growl and launched herself at the dark haired boy, "I am going to kill you!" she bellowed as she struggled to pin him to the ground.

Percy fought back for a minute then gave in and allowed his girlfriend to pin his arms to the ground and plant a knee on his chest while he continued his fit of laughter.

"Will. You. Stop. Laughing!?" Annabeth said as she pummeled his chest with soft punches, her knees now on either side of his torso.

The son of Poseidon opened his eyes only to begin another string of laughs. Annabeth's blond hair was sopping wet and hung in clumps around her tanned face, her grey eyes narrowed at him.

"Dry me off, _now_." She seethed.

Being the son of the sea god, Percy had the ability to control water and, therefore, could easily remove all water from Annabeth's person in mere seconds. Instead, he simply reached up and placed a soft hand on her damp cheek, laughing subsided. His green eyes bore into her grey ones and her glare lessened. Percy's other hand gently yanked on a strand of Annabeth's wet hair and a smile played across his lips.

"You know you love me." He teased.

"Sometimes I question exactly why," Annabeth smirked, "But, yes, I do love you."

Percy's smile widened, "Wait, who do you love, exactly?" he continued, pulling on her blond curl.

Annabeth rolled her big grey eyes, "Percy Jackson, I love you." She stated, her voice monotone.

Percy's smile widened even more-Annabeth was afraid his cheeks would rip if he smiled any bigger. Then he closed his eyes, concentrating. Suddenly Annabeth was dried off and Percy's eyes reopened.

"Thank you." The blonde smiled and moved to let Percy off the floor but his hand was still latched onto her hair which caused her to get stuck halfway standing, halfway crouching over him.

She let out a little shriek, "Percy! Let go!"

Annabeth looked down to see Percy's bottom lip sticking out, his eyes big and wide, "Come back," He whimpered.

Laughing, Annabeth returned to her previous position and looked Percy square in the face, "Okay, I'm back, now will you let go of my hair?"

Percy released the strand and slid his hand to her cheek then buried his fingers in her hair. Annabeth's breath hitched and she momentarily closed her eyes; Percy knew exactly how to make her melt.

"Percy…" She whispered hesitantly, "I have homework to do and you're being very distracting."

Percy laughed and Annabeth could feel the rumble of his chest, "I'm sorry," he breathed.

Annabeth, eyes still closed, grinned, "No you're not."

"Not even a little." Then he kissed her.

And she melted. Annabeth had never thought herself a girl that was the _melting_ type but Percy was like a hot knife and she was the butter. She felt him smile against her lips and she sighed contentedly.

"Percy, reall-" Annabeth tried to say when they pulled away for a split second.

Now both of his warm hands were in her hair and her brain wasn't working properly. Really, two college students kissing on the floor of a girl's apartment could only end in one thing but that _thing_ hadn't even happened for them yet. They had both decided that they should wait until they were married and, while they were absolutely, completely in love, they still hadn't done that either. It just didn't seem like the right time.

Annabeth tried hard to concentrate but her mind was only focusing on two things: his lips and his hands. Slowly, she began to relax and she tangled her own fingers into Percy's pitch black hair. After a few minutes, they came up for air.

"Okay," Annabeth said breathlessly, "I really need to get my homework done, Seaweed Brain."

Percy still had his hands in her hair and attempted to use his puppy dog face again to prevent her from getting up but it wouldn't work this time. Annabeth planted one last, hard, lingering kiss on his mouth then abruptly stood up. Percy was dazed enough that he didn't have the chance to grab ahold of her and yank her back down so he lay there on the floor for a moment, then he sat up. Bracing himself on his elbows he glanced over to the kitchen where Annabeth now stood.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey! You mind making me a sandwich?" He asked.

Hysterical laughter burst from Annabeth as she poured herself a glass of orange juice and grabbed her book bag from beside the door-luckily, it hadn't gotten wet.

"Go make one yourself, you know where everything is. I'm busy." She waved her architecture homework in the air as she plopped herself on the couch.

"Well, a man can dream." Percy grumbled as he pushed himself up off the floor and made his way into the little kitchen of Annabeth's apartment. "You want a sandwich, Wise Girl?" He called while he rummaged through the fridge.

Annabeth didn't reply so he took that as a "no". He finished making his bologna and mustard sandwich then sat down beside Annabeth on the couch. Her head was bent over some very complicated looking blueprints and her brow was furrowed in thought.

"Ya look tense," Percy stated while he placed his hands on her shoulders and began to massage out the tension.

" _Percyyyyyy…_ " she protested and tried to shrug him off.

Percy was persistent, though, and he knew exactly how to distract his girlfriend, even from things she deemed more important at the moment, "Come on, just a little neck massage, relieve some of that pent up stress, then I'll let you get back to your _boring_ architecture, huh?"

"Ugh, fine." Annabeth was stubborn but sometimes you had to choose your battles and Percy was right about her tense muscles.

She pushed her blueprint out of sight and slid off the couch onto the floor, positioning herself so her back was to the couch and her shoulders were between Percy's knees. Doing this had become sort of routine back at Camp Half-Blood whenever they got a short break from life-threatening gods, giants, monsters, or titans. The couple would sit and talk for hours while Percy rubbed out all the knots in Annabeth's back or Annabeth would sit and read a book that Percy undoubtedly would find boring while he worked her shoulders with his thumbs.

Annabeth let out a sign as she relaxed and let Percy do his magic. Who knows, it could've actually been some kind of magic that he was using.

"See, isn't this better than architecture?" Percy smiled as he rubbed a particularly large knot on the side of Annabeth's neck.

"Yeah, whatever, Percy."

Annabeth closed her eyes and let herself relax. She sighed and let her head lull to the side to rest on Percy's thigh. Percy continued to massage with a mischievous smirk. After a while, his hands moved out to massage her shoulders, and then worked their way back to her neck then up into her hair. Annabeth let out a contented noise and shifted a little on the floor. Less than a minute later, her breathing became even and her hand came up to rest on Percy's knee.

Percy stopped massaging and chuckled, "Works every time."

Carefully, he moved off of the couch and hefted Annabeth into a cradle hold. Her arms came up to encircle Percy's neck and she nuzzled her head into his shoulder as he slowly walked them to her bedroom. Annabeth usually wasn't a heavy sleeper but when she felt safe and secure. Once they reached the king sized bed, Percy gingerly laid the sleeping girl on the mattress, removed her shoes, and climbed onto the bed beside her. Annabeth squirmed and reached out her arms; she was very cuddly when she slept. Percy chuckled again and pulled her into a snug embrace.

Some may think that it was rude of Percy to distract Annabeth from her homework and that she would be furious when she woke up, but Annabeth hadn't had a good night sleep in over a month. Her dreams seemed to be filled with Tartarus lately and Percy just wanted her to have one dreamless sleep. As he lay there with Annabeth in his arms, her head nestled into the crook of his neck, and her leg draped over both of his, he silently thanked the gods.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey y'all! These updates are probably gonna be really sporadic and I'm not promising that I'll finish this story or that it will be very long, but I'll try my best! And this whole story is pretty much just going to be fluff. It won't have much of a plot, just a crap ton of cute, hopefully.**

Three hours later, Annabeth woke up, her body pressed against Percy's side, her arms wrapped around his torso, and her head on his shoulder. Percy's head was turned to the side, a puddle of drool accumulating on the pillow. Annabeth smiled and reached a hand up to run her fingers through his inky mop of hair. He shifted onto his side and pulled her closer.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered, "Percy, wake up."

"Mmmm."

Annabeth smiled and placed a hand on his cheek, "Percy, you drool in your sleep."

One green eye cracked open, foggy with sleep, "Love you, too." Percy's voice was low and gruff.

One of his arms was underneath Annabeth's head and he bent his wrist to toy with the end of one of her blond curls.

"You distracted me." Annabeth said.

"Yep."

"You gave me a neck massage because you knew I would fall asleep."

"Yep." A smirk played across Percy's lips.

"You distracted me from my homework so I could sleep?" Annabeth asked.

Percy's eyes became soft and he shifted to place a kiss on the tip of Annabeth's nose, "You haven't had a good night's sleep in weeks. I just wanted to help."

Annabeth grunted out an "ugh" and Percy's eyes filled with confusion, "What?"

"I was going to be mad at you…" She grumbled.

Percy laughed, "Aww, you can't be mad at me, Wise Girl. I was being nice."

Annabeth buried her face in his shoulder then gave Percy a sideways look. Percy laughed again and used his right hand to tuck her hair behind her ear then began stroking her cheek with his thumb. They stayed like that for a few minutes while Percy mulled over how to approach the subject of Tartarus. For the last month, Percy had been visiting his parents back in New York. He offered for Annabeth to join him but she still had an architecture class to take so she had to stay in New Rome.

"Annabeth?" Percy blurted.

Annabeth shifted so she could look at him, "Yeah?"

"Have- have the dreams been bad?" He asked.

Annabeth stiffened a little and let out deep sigh.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For leaving. I know you don't sleep well when I'm gone, and I'm sorry."

"Percy, it's not your fault at all! It's true I have difficulty sleeping when you're not here, but I can't force you to say by my side twenty-four-seven. I'm a big girl; I can handle some bad dreams." She smiled and sat up in bed.

Percy continued to lay there while Annabeth raked her fingers through her hair to detangle it. He reached out and slowly ran a finger along her lower back below the hem of her shirt.

"Percy stop, that tickles." Annabeth protested and wiggled her away from him.

"Were any of the dreams about me?" He whispered.

Annabeth breathed another deep sigh, realizing that the subject hadn't changed like she'd hoped it would, "All of the dreams were about you, Seaweed Brain. They always are."

Percy raised an eyebrow. He knew this, or course, but he still liked to joke around about it sometimes-lighten the mood a little, "Oh were they?"

Annabeth threw him a sideways glance over her shoulder, "Yes, they were. But they weren't cute, or hot, or funny. They were about us, in a pit, surrounded by monsters and slowly dying." She deadpanned.

Sometimes she could brush off the joking or laugh at it but the last month's dreams had been especially brutal. The nightmares didn't happen as often as they used to but they certainly hadn't gone away. The only way to really ensure that she didn't have any was to be wrapped in Percy's arms while she slept but that couldn't happen all the time and occasionally it wouldn't stop the dreams anyway. They were always the worst when they reappeared after a long time without them.

Before Percy left, neither of them had had a nightmare in over three months. Right before Percy went back to New York the realization hit Annabeth that the nightmares would probably slam into her like a train. For three nights she stayed up all night, avoiding sleep like the plague. Eventually, though, she couldn't stay awake any longer. She had fallen asleep on the couch and woken up in the kitchen grasping a chef's knife. That dream had only been the beginning and it wasn't even the worst.

Usually the nightmares consisted of some horrific reenactment of something that happened in Tartarus only ramped up by ten because they usually ended in one of them witnessing the other die.

The worst of the nightmares had happened two days before Percy got back to New Rome. Annabeth had felt defeated and couldn't stay awake any longer. She had tried her hardest by drinking a ridiculous amount of coffee and doing ten jumping jacks every twenty minutes. It was around four in the morning when she finally collapsed and her eyes slammed shut.

The scene was familiar as always; Annabeth was dangling down the entrance to Tartarus by Percy's hand. But this time, instead of Percy saying "as long as we're together" and plummeting to the bottom with her, a devilish smile spread across his tan face and he released her hand. Screams ripped from Annabeth's throat, both in the dream and while she lay on the floor of her apartment. Usually, that's when the dream would stop and she would wake up with a jolt, covered in sweat, but not this time. This time she had to relive every agonizing memory… by herself. There were no comforting arms to fall into, no words of encouragement.

She stumbled through the pit by herself, no sense of direction, no one to help. She continued on aimlessly until she came to the first group of monsters. When they were actually in Tartarus, most of the energy Annabeth had to fight monsters came from the need to help Percy and stay alive. The nightmare Annabeth didn't have such motivations. She didn't have Percy and she was done suffering alone, she just didn't care anymore. As she fumbled around, trying to avoid the monsters' attacks, she heard a faint voice.

It sounded like Percy and her heart began to pound. Maybe he came to help somehow; maybe he fell too and was here to save her. Annabeth followed the voice, running from the monsters. When she finally reached the source, she found Percy standing there, completely unharmed, a smile on his face. She had to be having hallucinations; there was no way he could be down here looking that healthy. In her delirium, Annabeth ran into Percy's arms.

The second she slammed into him, she felt better, her energy seemed to surge back into her and she felt like she could breathe again. She felt at home, safe, even though she was in a pit of doom. As she moved to pull back and look into Percy's face she felt a sharp pain between her shoulder blades. She'd been hit and stabbed many times but this felt worse, it felt different.

She looked into Percy's face and that devilish smile was back. He threw his head back in a laugh as he twisted the celestial bronze dagger that he had thrust into her back. Breathing became difficult and her legs began to give out. She was dying.

 **Okay, this chapter was really hard to write. Sorry it took so long. I don't really love the end of it. I found it really difficult to Segway into the dream but I hope it wasn't too horrible! Thank you all for reading! I will continue this. Like I said, updates will be sporadic and I apologize. Leave a review if you like it and maybe give suggestions on where you want to story to go! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I feel like this chapter is a tad short for some reason? But I like it anyway and I felt like the end was a good place to stop so… ENJOY!**

Annabeth woke up with a start. She was lying on the floor of her apartment, drenched head to toe in sweat. For a second she just sat in shock, and then she began to sob. The wails racked her body as she pulled her knees up to her chest and rocked back and forth. She didn't sleep for the remaining two days until Percy returned.

"I'm so sorry, Wise Girl." Percy whispered, sitting up.

He reached around Annabeth and pulled her closer to him, hugging her from behind as they sat on the bed. Annabeth relaxed a bit against him. She let out a shuddered breath as she remembered her nightmare and shut her eyes tight. Percy's grip on her tightened and he planted a kiss on the top of her head.

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah, Percy?"

"I love you, you know that, right?"

"I know, Seaweed Brain," She said with a smile that he couldn't see as she was facing away from him, "I love you, too."

At that, she turned around in his arms and slung her arms around his neck, leaning her head so her forehead rested on his.

"As long as we're together, I'll never stop loving you," She whispered, eyes closed.

"As long as we're together." Percy replied.

He then closed the small distance between them and captured her lips with his. Annabeth instantly reciprocated, slipping her fingers into his hair. His arms tightened around her waist, putting them almost chest to chest. The kiss was slow, long, and breathtaking. Annabeth was the one to pull back, her face contorted, trying to hold in the tears.

"Hey, hey. I love you, it's okay, I love you." Percy said, concern evident on his face.

Annabeth attempted to compose herself but as she squeezed her eyes even tighter a few tears slipped down her cheeks, a tiny whimper escaped her throat. Percy placed his hands on the sides of her face and wiped the tears away with his thumbs. Annabeth didn't break down often, but when she did, it was always because of a particularly bad nightmare.

Every time it happened, the nightmare was about him somehow turning against her and her losing the last person in her life that she truly trusted and loved with all of her. The dreams showed just how painful it must have been to witness Luke turn on her. She couldn't live through that again.

"Annabeth, look at me." Percy said.

Annabeth's lids opened to reveal her stormy grey eyes, tears clinging to her lashes.

"I – love - you," He said firmly, punctuating each word with a tiny kiss, "Do you understand that? I love you and I will never _ever_ leave you. Ever. I'm so sorry that I left you here to visit my parents. I'm so sorry about Tartarus and about Luke and all the other gods forsaken crap that has happened in between, but I, Perseus Jackson, will never ever leave you. Do you hear me?"

Annabeth blinked a few times, more tears sliding down her face, and nodded. Percy pressed their lips together once more in a passionate kiss filled with all the love he felt for her. Her lips were salty from the tears and she had to pull away after a few seconds, unable to breathe through her nose.

She let out a little laugh as she sniffled and wiped at her face. She then dropped her hands into her lap and looked at Percy.

"Thank you." She smiled, "And stop apologizing for going to New York. I can't keep you from seeing your parents, what kind of girlfriend would I be if I did?"

"Well, next time you're coming with me, okay?"

She laughed again, "Okay," Annabeth said, standing up from the bed and turning toward the door. "Now I really do need to get my homework done, Percy."

"One last thing." Percy said from behind her.

Annabeth turned around, lips poised in a response but she didn't say anything when she saw Percy down on one knee next to her bed. His hair was rumpled and his shirt was wrinkled, but he was holding a little black box with a ring inside.

"Annabeth Chase, will you marry me?"

 **OOOOOOHHHHHH cliff hanger! What do y'all think she's gonna sayyyyy? (Oh come on, you already know the answer, this is a Percabeth story for heaven's sake.) I wasn't planning on it going in the direction to be honest but I'm liking it. I hope you are too! If you like it or see something that needs to be fixed, please please please review! Love you all! Thank you for reading! The next installment may be the last one and I'm not sure when it will be up but this probably won't be the end (but I'm not making any promises)**


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